Improvement in adjustable check-cutters



O. O. CARTER. Adjustable Check-Gutter.

No'. 208,713. Patented Oct. 8, 1878.

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CHARLES C. CARTER, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT lN ADJUSTABLE CHECK-CUTTERS.

Specification tbrining part of Letters Patent No. 208,713, dated October 8, 1878; application filed August 10, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. CARTER, of Decatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Check, Note, or Draft Cutters; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents, in perspective, a checkbook with my improved cutter placed upon and clasping its leaves. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of the cutter detached.

My invention relates to straight-edge cutters used for separating checks, notes, receipts, &c., from the stub by tearing them against its edge. This is generally done by using a ruler or other similar strai ght-edge but such devices are not convenient to carry in the pocket, and are liable to be misplaced when needed. To remedy this defect, straight-edges of predetermined size have been attached to checkbooks by means of elastic rubber bands or wires, the first being liable to rapid decay, and the second is otherwise objectionable.

The object of my invention is to produce a cutter the size of which can be regulated to suit various size check-books, and at the same time very simple and lasting.

My invention consists in a check -cutter formed of two pieces of spring-metal, (thin spring-brass being preferred,) each piece being bent upon itself at one end to clasp the leaves of a book, and connected to the other by flanged projections attached to or struck upon one engaging with the edges or in a groove of the other, permitting a longitudinal sliding motion and adjustment of the device to the width of any size check-book.

In the drawings, A represents the leaves of a check-book. They are bound and attached to covers B in the usual manner. The leaves are printed so as to leave, after being removed, a stub, a, as a record of transactions.

The device used for dividing the checks from the stubs is shown at C. It consists of two pieces of thin spring-metal, c and 0 each piece being bent upon itself at one end to form a spring, 0 made to clasp the leaves of a book, and be retained across the checks on the line where each should be out. These pieces are connected together in the present instance by means of flanged projections or the head of rivets (I, attached to the piece a, passing through and resting on the edges of a longitudinal groove, 0, formed in the piece 0, allowin g the device to be elongated or adjusted to the width of any size check-book.

The rivets (I may be replaced by flanged projections pressed out of the metal of the piece 0, or if the metal is thin the edges of either piece may be turned or flanged upon itself, so as to embrace the other and retain the two in line; but I prefer forming a central groove, 0, in one of the pieces and flanged projections upon the other. In either case the flat springs 0 will retain the cutting-edge in contact with the check that is to be separated from the stub. After it is separated the stub is removed from under the cutter, either by lifting it off or by sliding the cutter over the next check and back over the dividing-line between the check and stub. The operation is repeated until only a few checks remain. Then the cutter can be taken off and clamped over the cover.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim A11 adjustable check-cutter formed of two pieces of thin spring-metal, each piece being bent upon itself at one end to form a flat spring-clamp, and connected to the other by flanged projections upon one engaging with the edges or in a groove of the other, permitting a longitudinal sliding motion and adjustment of the device to the width of any-sized check-book, substantially as and for the purpose described.

CHARLES C. CARTER.

Witnesses ORVILLE B. GoRIN, JAMES MILLIKTN. 

